


a coming of age (come and gone)

by cathect



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Open Ending (Sort Of), Pre-Kerberos Mission, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:13:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25740397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cathect/pseuds/cathect
Summary: “I know,” Keith says. An embarrassed flush spreads across his cheeks. “I know that it’s stupid, and that you can’t just, like, call off the mission, but,” and Keith can’t help it— he pouts. He feels so much younger than seventeen, so much smaller than he is. Angry tears prick at his eyes and he blinks them back.“Hey.” Shiro stands and reaches out for Keith. Keith goes into his arms without hesitation. “Don’t cry, Keith, please.”“I’m not crying,” Keith says, even though heis— fully now, hot tears spilling down his cheeks, pressed into Shiro’s chest where Keith buries his face. One of Shiro’s hands cards idly through Keith’s hair. “Please don’t leave me.”-pre-kerb. keith is seventeen.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 34





	a coming of age (come and gone)

**Author's Note:**

> i apparently wrote this back in february and completely forgot it existed? but here it is now, with a shiny new title courtesy of taylor swift's "peace." i know it's tiny, but i like how it turned out, and my good friend star encouraged me to post it, so.
> 
> thank you to erin for beta'ing!

_"all these people think that love's for show,_

_but i would die for you in secret."_

_\- taylor swift_

-

“I don’t want you to go,” Keith says softly. It’s the first time he’s actually voiced it, though it’s been a steady mantra in his head since Shiro told him about Kerberos.

Shiro looks up from his book to where Keith is standing in his doorway. He hadn’t bothered when the door first opened, since the only two people who can get in are himself and Keith. He’s looking now. Keith feels exposed under his gaze, analyzed. Shiro is the only one who’s ever been able to tell what’s going on in his head. Keith wonders if he can tell what he’s thinking now.

“What?” Shiro asks, like he’s confused. As if he’s forgotten he leaves for the biggest mission of his life in the morning.

Keith steps inside and lets the door slide shut with a _hiss_ behind him. He crosses his arms over his chest. Fidgeting, wishing more than anything that he could hide from Shiro’s intense and curious gaze. “Kerberos,” he clarifies. “I don’t... I don’t want you to go, Shiro.”

Shiro sits up properly then, eyebrows drawn together in the middle of his forehead. “Keith,” he says, so gently it hurts, “I can’t just—?”

“I know,” Keith says. An embarrassed flush spreads across his cheeks. “I know that it’s stupid, and that you can’t just, like, call off the mission, but,” and Keith can’t help it— he _pouts_. He feels so much younger than seventeen, so much _smaller_ than he is. Angry tears prick at his eyes and he blinks them back.

“Hey.” Shiro stands and reaches out for Keith. Keith goes into his arms without hesitation. “Don’t cry, Keith, please.”

“I’m not crying,” Keith says, even though he _is_ — fully now, hot tears spilling down his cheeks, pressed into Shiro’s chest where Keith buries his face. One of Shiro’s hands cards idly through Keith’s hair. “Please don’t leave me.” Keith’s voice breaks in the middle of his sentence.

Shiro sighs and sets his chin on top of Keith’s head, and Keith knows what he’s thinking. That he never should have let this thing between them grow, that he never should have kissed Keith that first time, or the second or the hundreth. He should have let it go unspoken, untouched until Keith was older. Maybe then Keith would be able to act like a fucking adult about Shiro going on a mission. Maybe then—

“I’m not,” Shiro says quietly. He pulls back to press his lips to Keith’s forehead. Keith melts into the touch. “This isn’t me leaving you, Keith. I’d never leave you. It’s just another mission.”

“On the other side of the fucking _solar system_ ,” Keith says. There’s a pang in his chest that feels a lot like guilt for his tone, like he’s accusing Shiro of something. It’s not like it’s Shiro’s fault he has to go so far.

“Language,” Shiro chides playfully, and Keith mutters a soft apology on instinct. Shiro leans in just enough to brush his nose against Keith’s. “I’m coming back,” he says— hushed, like it’s a secret just between the two of them.

“I know,” Keith says, and curses the fresh wave of tears it brings to his eyes. But he does know.

Shiro will come back to him. He always does.

-

Five months later, Keith lays with his back to the television.

Even with the sound off, he knows what the reporter is saying, knows that the words “pilot error” are displayed underneath a picture of Shiro’s smiling face. It’s been three days since the news broke, and the Garrison has been buzzing with it. Everywhere he goes, eyes and ears fall on Keith for information that he doesn’t have. The desperation, the pity, the search for answers all follow him down every corner, behind every door. He can’t escape it, even when he’s alone in his room.

Keith’s heart aches in his chest, threatening with every beat to jump ship and give up. Keith almost wishes it would.

**Author's Note:**

> come visit me on tumblr @devilstrip!


End file.
